With air travel demand down compared to pre- COVID-19 pandemic levels and business travel still suppressed, cheap last-minute flight deals are more common than ever before.

For those who feel comfortable traveling this winter, there are a handful of ways to capitalize on this new low fare environment. The experts at Scott's Cheap Flights —an email subscription service that alerts its more than two million members to cheap flight deals—point out that today's last-minute flight shoppers aren’t free-spending business travelers like they were this time a year ago. Instead, airlines are relying on price-sensitive leisure travelers to fill those seats. The change means that airlines can't raise last-minute fares like they typically would. Instead, they've been forced to go the other direction.

This means that nowadays the best deals are often found 7-10 days prior to departure. Being flexible with travel dates and destinations—try to settle on a region rather than a specific airport—will give travelers additional opportunities to save on their flights. Scott's Cheap Flights reports that many smaller airports serving popular national parks and small coastal cities are priced the same as bigger and less-convenient hub airports right now.

Travelers can use free tools like Google Flights or Hopper to set fare alerts that will keep them in the know if and when fares start to change.

Airlines have also been forced to adjust their schedules on the fly with the pandemic limiting where they can fly outside of the United States. Due to these ongoing adjustments, travelers may be able to fly nonstop to some smaller airports and may even wind up on a larger mainline airplane rather than a regional jet.

The experts at Scott's Cheap Flights recommend that travelers monitor airlines' schedules for new routes, noting that updates are normally loaded on the weekends, with changes likely to appear by Sunday afternoons.

The dramatic decline in business travel also means that business class is more attainable for last-minute leisure travelers. According to Scott's Cheap Flights' research, the buy-up from economy to business class might be as low as $100 on some shorter routes.

While being flexible and staying alert to new routes will be key to saving big on flights this winter, travelers must also be aware of any temporary COVID-19 travel restrictions or requirements in their destination to avoid unexpected issues.